Powered Paragliding Paramotoring New Brunswick

21 Aug 09 - Update from Ben and his team - Received an email this morning from Ben thanking everyone for helping is team accomplish is goals this summer achieving the World Distance Record of 10,000 km when he touch down in St John's, Newfoundland on September 1st. He would like to extend an invitation to celebrate this beautiful and humbling moment. With Hurricane Bill approaching Atlantic Canada we hope the next few days on the road will keep Ben and his team safe and warm. For more info, please visit www.aboveandbeyondcanada.com

Due to PPGNB training commitments we can not attends Ben's final leg to claim the new Guinness World Distance Records. However, the Above and Beyond team is welcome to attend the Atlantic International Balloon Fiesta, September 11-13, 2009, here in Sussex, New Brunswick on their way back home. For more info on the Atlantic International Balloon Fiesta, please visit www.atlanticballoonfiesta.ca

16 Aug 09 - Busy morning here at PPGNB - This morning we conducted four Tandem Flights as an introductory to powered paragliding. Then we went into the shop and showed the potential student's foot launch and wheel unit's. They had plenty of questions in which I was happy to answer. Hopefully we'll see them in the future as PPG pilot's!! Guenther had flown this morning several times and if you see a yellow glider with red trim in Jemseg or Grand Lake area, it will be him. Congrats Guenther on becoming a PPG pilot!! Lastly Jim, had flown also with his WJ F200 and was very happy with the performance of his engine.

Guenther flying his XC flight Xcitor Introductory Flight's!! Chuck, Chantal, Barb and Scott

15 Aug 09 - Guenther took this 1st PGG flight - Guenther is an experienced PG pilot for many years. He always talked about taking up Motor flight so that he can fly more often. Today, he took the plunge and this morning he took his first PPG flight's. Jim, also showed up this morning to try out his new motor.

14 Aug 09 - Sussex Annual Flea Market - I flew the Greeneagle over the Sussex Giant Flea Market and Golf Course this morning. Its going to be a busy weekend with all the venders.

12 Aug 09 - Above and Beyond departed PPGNB - The Above and Beyond crew depart us early this morning to be with a camp of kids in Moncton, NB. Then Benjamin was going to fly from Moncton to Prince Edward Island today. The link below are 64 pictures that Alex and Ben took of the Sussex Area and the flight to Moncton, NB with Mark, Tim and Frank.

10 Aug 09 - Benjamin departed PPGNB with local pilots - Benjamin, Frank, Mark and Tim departed PPGNB this evening and flew to Moncton NB. It was a great flight that took around 1 1/2 hours and traveled approx 80 km. Upon completion of the flight we returned to Sussex to have a BBQ. Thank's to the wives who organized a great meal for us pilots!!

Benjamin Jordan from aboveandbeyondcanada.com took this picture of Tim, Frank and Mark on their way to Moncton, NB

9 Aug 09 - Above and Beyond crew arrived- Ben, Jessie and Alex arrived later on this afternoon. Ben and the crew look tired as expected. The weather is not looking very good tomorrow morning so it look's like they'll get a chance to catch up on a little rest and re-org for the next leg. The BBQ is planned for around 5:00 PM tomorrow with a possible launch for Moncton after (Weather permitting). All Pilot's and spouses are welcome to attend the BBQ and pilot's are encouraged to join in on the historic flight!!

9 Aug 09 - Above and Beyond scheduled to arrive in Sussex, NB tomorrow!! - Ben & Jessie are in New Brunswick and are scheduled to arrive at my place sometime tomorrow morning (10 Aug 09). We're planning to have a small BBQ to welcome them to Sussex, NB. All PPG pilot's and spouses are welcome to attend and also fly with Ben on his next leg of his journey to Moncton, NB. Some accommodations can be provided at my place and also at Jim & Nancy's place. The plan is to depart Sussex towards Moncton sometime Monday evening or Tuesday morning (weather permitting).

Let's celebrate Ben's Historical achievement and record breaking by joining him on a small leg of his journey. See you here!!

8 Aug 09 - Tandem Xcitor ride - - Tim from Moncton showed up this evening to discuss equipment and to get in a tandem Introductory flight. The weather co-operated and we had a beautiful flight this evening. Tim is a very experienced fixed wing pilot but was amazed by the open cockpit view and the versatility of PPG aircraft. Tim also had a chance to control the aircraft in the air. Due to Tim's aviation experience we carved up a couple of good turns just to show Tim the feel of the turning characteristics of a paraglider.

7 Aug 09 - Updated news from Above & Beyond Crew Approaching NB - Benjamin Jordan is from Nelson, BC and departed Tofino, BC on May 15th, 2009 to fly Powered Paraglider across Canada and break a world record and raising funds to send kids to camp. He and his support team are currently 187 kms outside Sussex,NB and will be landing here the morning of August 10th, 2009.

The next morning , August 10, 2009 @ 09:15 AM - 10:15 AM, Benjamin will be giving a presentation to the kids living with diabetes about his record breaking journey and inspire them to listen to their hearts, face their fears and follow their own dreams. At the end of the presentation he will launch from the field and pilots are welcome to fly onwards to Sussex, NB for a BBQ. For more details and direction to Camp Rotary check the website @ www.camprotary.ca and you can follow Benjamin's journey to PEI, Nova Scotia and Newfoundland

Frank and I plan on attending the event at Camp Rotary in Grand Lake, NB. Any interested pilots wishing to launch together near Grand Lake are welcome to fly back to Sussex for a BBQ with the Above and Beyond crews Benjamin and Jess. They will spend the afternoon with us and finish their flight toward Moncton that evening or stay overnight and depart Tuesday morning.

4 Aug 09 - Yvon Continues His Training - It's been a month since Yvon was able to continue his training due to lousy weather and other commitments. After the fog lifted, it wasn't long before we was able to achieve a few more flights and enjoy the air again. The conditions were very challenging with variable winds and humid conditions. Yvon is at the stage where he is proficient in taking-off and landing on his own. He'll finish off his remaining qualification flight's in his local area of Campbellton N.B. Good work Yvon!!

2 Aug 09 - Refresher Training - It's been a while since Bruce flew his Eco 4 Trike so we conducted some refresher training this evening. I had installed A-assist on his trike since his shoulders were sore trying to pull the risers during inflation. The A-assist worked great. We conducted some refresher training practicing inflations, then I took his trike for a test flight to ensure everything was working properly. Bruce took his turn and had a very good take-off and quick flight.

2 Aug 09 - Downtown Fredericton, NB - Bob, Dave and Glen flew downtown Fredericton, NB this morning taking advance of the nice weather. I also flew the XCitor around the Sussex area and hopefully the month of August will bring us better weather.

1 Aug 09 - Green Eagle Modification - I just recently purchased a 2 Blade ground adjustable prop from GSC Props. I can tell you that they make quality props. I'm very impressed with the machining of the prop hub and the final finish coat on the prop ends. The reason why I ordered the prop was to bring the RPM of the 4 stroke engine even lower while still maintaining my maximum thrust level. This is another big advantage of a 4 stroke engine. 4 stroke engines do not run near the speed of 2 stroke engines but what the have plenty of is torque. Therefore, you can spin a larger prop and increase the pitch to give you a low RPM running engine while still giving you plenty of thrust. In fact, yesterday I was playing with the pitch until I reached my maximum thrust level. I increased total Thrust by 30 lbs over the stock 4 blade prop. The test flight this evening was impressive. My climb out was outstanding. I can say it's the best climb out I've ever had with any trike that I've flown other than of course the Xcitor. My cruise RPM to maintain altitude was 2600 and the engine was purring quietly. I'm sure the fuel mileage will increase also.

This unit is definitely the Cadillac of Trikes!! And by the way, I have one in stock ready to ship or assemble!!

28 Jul 09 - Seafoam, Nova Scotia - This is our second day in Nova Scotia and the winds to date were fairly strong and blowing out to sea!! This evening, Jo and I were sitting on the beach after a long day visiting the Tall Ships in Pictou when we felt the winds come down. Even though the winds were still blowing out to sea they were not very strong. We quickly packed up the car with the PPG gear and went out to find a good spot to take off. We found a great place just a couple of miles down the coast. Finally found the owner's of the land and received permission from them to fly off their property. In fact, after explaining what I was going to fly they came down to check it out. The flight was very nice but the winds were still fairly strong at about 400' of altitude and because of the direction it was quite bumpy. I flew over the campground, beach area and then landed on the beach close to my motorhome. We also had permission from the campground staff to land at this site. They're were

25 Jul 09 - Trip to Nova Scotia - Jo and I will be leaving for Nova Scotia to see the Tall ships tomorrow morning. We should be back no later than 30 August. If you require to get a hold of us you can contact me by cell - 506-434-5601/5602. Of course, I'm taking a paramotor with me and hopefully I'll get a chance to fly the Nova Scotia coastline.

25 Jul 09 - Another Licensed PPG Pilot - Congratulation Steve! Another licensed PPG Pilot in the Moncton area who wrote and passed his Ultralight exam at the Moncton Flight School yesterday.

23 Jul 09 - Another flight for the Weyman's Nuts!! - Bob, Dave and Paul enjoyed another fun flight this evening. Dave's flying the new

23 Jul 09 - Quick Fun Flight!! - This evening the winds came down enough to get in a quick 30 minutes flight. I decided to fuel up the WJ Airwolf and gave it a spin. It's been a long while since I flew the Airwolf and she flew great!! I flew to the campground in Sussex where one of my student's were visiting from Quebec. Unfortunately for him, he got into the wine after supper thinking the winds were too strong so there was no flying for him. The rest of the time I played around low in my training field. Fun Time!! I guess now we can get back into rain again tomorrow!!

23 Jul 09 - Now offering GSC Props - We now offer wooden fixed pitch props or fully ground adjustable in either 2 or 3 blade configuration. GSC props are very popular in the USA. The advantages of some of these props are in the event that you have a prop strike you can order only one blade rather than replacing the complete prop. With ground adjustable pitch you can dial in your motor's thrust to get maximum performance out of your paramotor. Link to Accessories will be updated shortly.

20 Jul 09 - Finally the weather clears!! - This morning was forecasted to be a good XC morning. Surface winds were low but winds aloft were rather high. I wanted to get in a decent XC flight to BelleIsle Bay but I knew it would be a very slow flight with my regular glider. Therefore I took my little 24m Revolution for the journey. This glider with speed bar is fast!! When I flew up to around 1000' I went full speed bar all the way to BelleIsle. I had a headwind of around 30-35 kms and my groundspeed was only 30-40kms. It took around 40 minutess to get to the Bay. When I headed back down wind I was cruising at 75-80 kms without speed bar. Needless to say it didn't take long to get back. Great flight!!

19 Jul 09 - Tall Ships are in Nova Scotia - We are planning on taking advance of seeing the tall ships in Pictou, Nova Scotia, 28 - 29 July and Pugwash, Nova Scotia, 31 - 1 August since its only a few hours away. Flying the coast line of Nova Scotia has been on our bucket list and hopefully the weather will be flyable. For more info on the Tall Ships see link at http://www.tallshipsnovascotia.com

18 Jul 09 - Flying the coast line of Sunny Dubai - Kobus had a chance to fly this morning the coast line of Dubai and he really enjoyed it, its like flying in Sunshine Florida. While flying the coast he seen 7 black tip reef sharks about 1.2 m long and lots of stingrays. We could sure use that sunshine here!

17 Jul 09 - Flying Northern Emirates - This morning Kobus met with other pilot and flew over Umm Al Quwian, (UAE). It was already warm

by 5:20 am and he seen nearly 70 water turtles from the air. Palm trees, beach sand and green water, what a great life! I hope Kobus carries an Agama!!

16 Jul 09 - New Toy - Jo and I have been traveling the last couple of day's in Quebec to pick up our new (used) Motorhome. We travel allot with the PPG business and live in it for 6 month's of the year during the Winter down south. We needed something big and comfortable while traveling cross country to carry the equipment we bring!!

11 Jul 09 - Foot Drag - Looks like the Weyman's Wingnuts were up flying early Saturday morning. Looks like Dust Crop Dave will have to buy new sneakers soon. Thanks Bob for sending the pics.

9 Jul 09 - Quick evening Foot Launch flight - Lately I've been taking life easy and I've been letting the wheels do all the work (Trike Flying). Well, I looked at my paramotor collecting dust and decided to take her out for a spin. Now, when I'm down south all I fly is foot launch 95% of the time, but when I'm back in NB I mostly trike fly due to I have some really nice trikes to fly!! I have to say though, that you never get tired of running off the ground!!

9 Jul 09 - Mixed Weather This Morning - I was looking forward to another XC flight this morning but this time with the Xcitor. My last flight was chilly after an hour so this time I overdressed for the occasion. The Xcitor cruises pretty fast and at 1000' the air this morning was quite cold. It was overcast with the usual grey skies and when I flew to 400' I was already getting into cloudbase. From the ground it didn't look that low so I turned around and landed. I waited for about 1 1/2 hours until the skies opened up. It was quite warm with clear skies. I took off again and this time the air was clear but rough below 800'. There was an fast moving inversion of air at 800' that was changing complete direction.

I decided to fly high and get well above the inversion layer and I flew at an altitude of 2700'. I don't usually fly this high but at that altitude the air was exceptionally smooth. It felt like when you are flying in an passenger aircraft looking out the window. I put the Excitor on cruise, set the trims and basically became a passenger for about 45 minutes. Beautiful Scenery, Nice Flight!!

8 Jul 09 - XC Flight to Knightville - Due to all the rain the pass three weeks the local farmers are busy working in the fields. Too chilly for Johanne this morning for a XC flight but promise to fly with me tomorrow with the Excitor. Nice XC flight this morning, 63 kms in 1.20 hrs.

7 Jul 09 - Weather Finally Improving - Bob was flying along minding his own business when Dave pulled up beside him.

3 Jul 09 - More Flights for Yvon - This morning Yvon had six more flights before the heavy rain and thunderstorms come down. Yvon is improving steadily with each flight.

2 Jul 09 - Yvon's First PPG Flight - Mother nature stopped the light rain just in time enough to let Yvon enjoy three flights this evening. Yvon did very well and with mother nature's help hopefully he'll be back in the air soon!!

2 Jul 09 - Big Toys for Small and Big Boys - Kobus and his PPG paramotor arrived safely back in Dubai(UAE). His son seen the big package and knew it was a toy, unfortunately for big boys. He seen the DVD of his dad flying and they has lots of fun assembling it together. Looks like he'll be a future pilot!!

1 Jul 09 - Yvon's PPG Training - Even though the weather looked terrible for training today it held off to allow us to get in a full day of training. We covered all the paramotor training in the morning, glider practice after lunch and In-flight as well as more glider practice in the early evening. Later on in the evening we went over several training films and at the end of the day Yvon wrote his Student Pilot Permit Exam. Hopefully tomorrow morning will bring us favorable weather for Yvon's first flight. Good work Yvon!!

30 Jun 09 - Congrats Paul!! - Another fully licensed PPG Pilot. Paul from Fredericton, NB area wrote and passed his Ultra Light Exam today. Well done !!

28 Jun 09 - PPGNB Showroom - Last night Jo and I completed one wall of pictures in the new showroom and when the winds came down I was able to take a break to get in quick flight. The flying opportunities have been rare due to rain or high winds and this morning the ceiling was very low. I decided to take the chance that the rain would hold off for a while so I took the Greeneagle for a flight. I kept in the vicinity of home waiting for the rain to start but thankfully it didn't. I had to fly at around 600' to keep below cloud base and even though I couldn't explore too far I enjoyed the flight.

26 Jun 09 - New Showroom Finished!! - Jo and I finally have our showroom nearly completed, other than hanging up some photos of our travels. My shop was getting full and we needed somewhere to place the larger trikes. We decided to finish our attached garage and make it into a showroom. Now that it's mostly completed we're happy with the results.

19 Jun 09 - PPGNB offers rental training on Blackhawk Low Boy Quad - We now offer Quad training. This unit has huge stability and enough power to get almost an pilot in the air with ease. If you lack funds to purchase gear but still want to take a PPG Course this unit can

18 Jun 09 - Yvon's new SDII Paramotor arrives - I assembled and test ran Yvon's new SDII paramotor this afternoon. It's ready for flight!! Yvon will be conducting his PPG Training at the end of the month.